Generalized filter models

AbstractIn this paper, starting from filters which are a natural generalization of intersection filters (Barendregt et al., J. Symbolic Logic 48 (1983) 931–940), the existence of filter models and filter semimodels for the λ-calculus is investigated. The construction of filters is based on a Z-semilattice of types in which the subsets having infimum are given by a collection Z, called subset system. The set of representable functions is characterized in the obtained domain. In the case where the properties of the subset system Z guarantee the existence of a filter model, the proof of soundness and completeness of the associated natural Z-type assignment system is routine

Kripke Models for the Second-Order Lambda-Calculus

We define a new class of Kripke structures for the second-order λ-calculus, and investigate the soundness and completeness of some proof systems for proving inequalities (rewrite rules) or equations. The Kripke structures under consideration are equipped with preorders that correspond to an abstract form of reduction, and they are not necessarily extensional. A novelty of our approach is that we define these structures directly as functors A:W→ Preor equipped with certain natural transformations corresponding to application and abstraction (where is a preorder, the set of worlds, and Preor is the category of preorders). We make use of an explicit construction of the exponential of functors in the Cartesian-closed category PreorW, and we also define a kind of exponential ∏Φ(As)s∈Τ to take care of type abstraction. We obtain soundness and completeness theorems that generalize some results of Mitchell and Moggi to the second-order λ-calculus, and to sets of inequalities (rewrite rules)

Proving Properties of Typed Lambda-Terms Using Realizability, Covers, and Sheaves (Preliminary Version)

We present a general method for proving properties of typed λ-terms. This method is obtained by introducing a semantic notion of realizability which uses the notion of a cover algebra (as in abstract sheaf theory). For this, we introduce a new class of semantic structures equipped with preorders, called pre-applicative structures. These structures need not be extensional. In this framework, a general realizability theorem can be shown. Kleene\u27s recursive realizability and a variant of Kreisel\u27s modified realizability both fit into this framework. Applying this theorem to the special case of the term model, yields a general theorem for proving properties of typed λ-terms, in particular, strong normalization and confluence. This approach clarifies the reducibility method by showing that the closure conditions on candidates of reducibility can be viewed as sheaf conditions. The above approach is applied to the simply-typed λ-calculus (with types →, x, +, and ⊥), and to the second-order (polymorphic λ-calculus (with types → and ∀2), for which it yields a new theorem

Functionality, Polymorphism, and Concurrency: A Mathematical Investigation of Programming Paradigms

The search for mathematical models of computational phenomena often leads to problems that are of independent mathematical interest. Selected problems of this kind are investigated in this thesis. First, we study models of the untyped lambda calculus. Although many familiar models are constructed by order-theoretic methods, it is also known that there are some models of the lambda calculus that cannot be non-trivially ordered. We show that the standard open and closed term algebras are unorderable. We characterize the absolutely unorderable T-algebras in any algebraic variety T. Here an algebra is called absolutely unorderable if it cannot be embedded in an orderable algebra. We then introduce a notion of finite models for the lambda calculus, contrasting the known fact that models of the lambda calculus, in the traditional sense, are always non-recursive. Our finite models are based on Plotkin’s syntactical models of reduction. We give a method for constructing such models, and some examples that show how finite models can yield useful information about terms. Next, we study models of typed lambda calculi. Models of the polymorphic lambda calculus can be divided into environment-style models, such as Bruce and Meyer’s non-strict set-theoretic models, and categorical models, such as Seely’s interpretation in PL-categories. Reynolds has shown that there are no set-theoretic strict models. Following a different approach, we investigate a notion of non-strict categorical models. These provide a uniform framework in which one can describe various classes of non-strict models, including set-theoretic models with or without empty types, and Kripke-style models. We show that completeness theorems correspond to categorical representation theorems, and we reprove a completeness result by Meyer et al. on set-theoretic models of the simply-typed lambda calculus with possibly empty types. Finally, we study properties of asynchronous communication in networks of communicating processes. We formalize several notions of asynchrony independently of any particular concurrent process paradigm. A process is asynchronous if its input and/or output is filtered through a communication medium, such as a buffer or a queue, possibly with feedback. We prove that the behavior of asynchronous processes can be equivalently characterized by first-order axioms